


As You Wish

by FayJay



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: F/F, Marriage, age gap, ladies kissing, ladies taking down the patriarchy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 07:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1890063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayJay/pseuds/FayJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The post-credit Easter Egg scene I was mentally writing the first time I saw the movie in the cinema; or: True Love's Kiss Take Two.</p><p>(Sincerest apologies for the lack of a beta - if you spot any infelicities, please do point them out.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	As You Wish

Aurora tracks her down on the third day.

Maleficent is aware of the girl's approach long before she comes into view; once upon a time she would have hidden herself away automatically - or, if she judged a face-to-face encounter with the beastie worthwhile, she would at least have let her magic uncurl long enough to garb herself in something suitably regal and flawless. Lounging in the broad branches of a tree with her long hair unbound and her horns and feet both bare, Maleficent looks nothing like a queen - and once upon a time that would have mattered a great deal. No longer. Through the crumpled spider-silk of her gown, the tree's bark is pleasantly rough against her spine, and the gently scented breeze is tickling her feathers deliciously where they curve out into the empty air behind her. If she wishes to, she can still launch herself out into the endless sky, and her wings - her precious, precious wings - will carry her up into the clouds while the Moors unfold beneath her like a familiar filigree carpet in gold and green and blue. 

It is still intoxicating to see the world from above once more, and know herself powerful and free. She will never take this freedom for granted again. 

Diaval swoops out of the forest ahead of Aurora, returning to his perch on the uppermost branches of Maleficent's tree. She watches Stephan's daughter picking her way into the clearing, and the contentment in her heart grows warmer at the sight. The child is thriving in her new role, it seems: her cheeks are rosy, and the golden circlet rests lightly in her golden hair. 

"Godmother," says Aurora, her face lighting up as their eyes meet. "When are you coming back?"

"Coming back?"

Aurora tilts her head to one side like a curious puppy; her expression of absolute trust is a weapon more effective than anything in her father's or her grandfather's armoury. It is more than a little terrifying to know how far Maleficent is prepared to go in order to be worthy of that trust, now that she has it once more. Heaven help any neighbouring king foolish enough to set his sights upon invading either of Aurora's kingdoms.

Aurora glances down at the daisy-laced grass, and then peers up through her eyelashes, her smile suddenly rueful. 

"I understand that you must wish to reacquaint yourself with the skies," she says diffidently. "But…we miss you."

Above their heads, Diaval lets loose a thoroughly impolite burst of cawing which effectively communicates his sincere doubt that Knotgrass and her sisters have spent any time pining for Maleficent over the past three days. Maleficent shares his sentiment.

"I miss you," Aurora amends. She winks up at Diaval. "Both of you." 

Maleficent doesn't have to look up to know that the wretched bird is preening. She is still dealing with the unexpected tightening in her chest, and trying to remain nonchalant at this declaration of affection, when Aurora's brow furrows comically, and she heaves a sigh. "Besides - I really don't know how to be a queen. I mean - I know quite a lot of things, I think. I know the names of all the flowers and trees in the forest, and I can recite the sagas, and churn butter, and get blueberry stains most of the way out of a tablecloth. And I can play skipping stones with the brownies, and riddle games with the dragons of the air and the dragons of the deep. But - I don't know how to be a queen. You always made it look so effortless."

She sighs, and sinks down into the grass, her skirts puddling untidily around her, and Maleficent has to admit that there is nothing remotely regal about her beautiful little beastie. 

Still - "Be yourself," she says, after a moment. "You are a queen, as your mother was before you, and your people already adore you."

Aurora rolls her eyes and then gazes down at the grass, her rosebud mouth twisting into a smile that is oddly older than her years. 

"I'm a mascot," she says softly, tugging a daisy up from the grass and twirling it back and forth. "I'm not a real queen, not yet. They love me - oh, and I love them! - but they respect you."

"They fear me." The admission stings more than she thought it would. She had never imagined a future where she would be feared by her own people.

"No! They love you," protests Aurora, her voice unexpectedly fierce.

"They loved me," Maleficent says. "Once upon a time, when I was as innocent and fair as you are now, they loved me. Now - now they know me too well."

"They love you still," the foolish child insists. "But they also respect you. In both kingdoms."

Maleficent's laughter is so sudden and so loud that Diaval startles, his blue-black wings stretching and flapping as he catches his balance on the finger-thin branch overhead. 

"Respect?" she says, her voice still warmed by the gust of laughter. "I'm the bogeyman they warn their children about to make them mind their chores; the demon their priests condemn from the pulpits to make the adults mind their laws. The mortals are terrified of me!"

"Well, they definitely aren't terrified of me," says Aurora, dryly. "And in the human world I don't think that being beloved is enough qualification to run a kingdom. Not on its own. Not if you're a sixteen year old girl who's spent her whole life in a cottage in the woods with three pixies passing themselves off as absent-minded aunts." She looks up, her fingers busy weaving daisies into a chain in her lap. "Oh, I don't mean to hurry you - I know you deserve a respite! But - I miss you. And I need you. So I just wanted to know how soon you were coming back?"

Maleficent does the child the courtesy of considering her words, and finds them sensible enough. Really, the beastie isn't witless; she's inexperienced, and ignorant, through no fault of her own, and far too trusting still because the world has only just begun to bruise her - but she's a bright enough child, and she has a point. After a moment Maleficent pushes herself upright, letting her bare legs dangle in the air, and she studies Aurora's face.

"You don't have to rule your father's kingdom, you know," she points out. "It's your right, your heritage, if you want to claim it - but you're welcome to stay in The Moors and leave the humans to bicker over their gold and their greed without you."

Aurora closes her eyes, her lashes fanning out dark and perfect on her young skin, and Maleficent is struck afresh with the awareness of just how fragile the little human beastie is. But she has all of Fairy at her beck and call now, and no human would dare raise a hand against her. She is safe, and nobody will ever harm her the way that Maleficent was once harmed.

"I would dearly love to stay here, and only here, and leave the human world behind," Aurora says, with feeling. "But - I think we can make it better there. I think - I think that I have a chance, a choice that my mother never had, and that makes it my responsibility too, in a way." She swallows, and glances back up at Maleficent through those delicate lashes, her expression imploring. "But I can't do it alone."

Maleficent shifts on her perch. She has never had any defence against that look, but she is still loathe to admit it.

"You have your handsome prince," she says. Overhead, Diaval makes a disgusted sound. Aurora gives a delighted gurgle of laughter, her cheeks reddening all at once.

"Phillip? Oh he is handsome, isn't he? Like something from a picture book - and so truly kind and sweet." She dimples. "I kissed him, you know. I wanted to, and I thought you wouldn't mind - it seemed only fair, since my aunties told me that he had already kissed me in my sleep, trying to break the curse. He was terribly sorry about that, and I must say it was strange to think of it. Strange and rather uncomfortable. But it was the aunties' fault - they practically forced him, they admitted as much, and he was very respectful and apologetic. So - I thought it was my turn, and I kissed him." Her smile is painfully familiar, innocent and triumphant and brimming with delight. "I liked it."

There is no accounting for the sour taste in Maleficent's mouth.

"There you are," she says. "You needn't tackle the human world alone. Happily ever after, neatly wrapped up with a ribbon, complete with a charming prince."

Aurora frowns. "Well - well, I suppose he can help, it's true. Phillip does know more about court life and politics than Knotgrass."

"The redcap who never leaves the Darken Cave knows more about court life and politics than Knotgrass," Maleficent mutters, and Aurora dissolves into giggles. 

"Exactly. I need you." She is watching Maleficent closely, as if she can read secrets written on her skin. "We united our kingdoms. That means we rule together. Or - well, most of the time, in the history books, it means that the husband gains all the power - even if he was just a servant, like my father was before he stole your wings."

Maleficent flinches. Aurora's eyes widen in guilt, and then her pretty face grows hard.

"I'm glad he's dead," Aurora says, and Maleficent feels an unexpected shock of pity for the orphan boy who had once thrown away his iron ring for her sake. She wonders whether anyone mourned his passing; in the end there was no triumph in seeing his body break upon the stones.

"I am not," Maleficent says, slowly. She steps down from the tree and joins Aurora in the cool, damp grass, closing her hands over Aurora's smaller ones as she leans close and tries to will an old head onto young shoulders. "He brought this upon himself, but I am not glad of it - not any of it. It was all pointless, all a stupid waste. And in the end his cruelty bought him nothing but a lonely golden chair in a cold stone hall." She swallows, and her voice shakes only infinitesimally when she adds: "He stole my wings, but in return I stole his heart."

Aurora frowns.

"You, Beastie," Maleficent says, her mouth curling at the corner. "I stole you. And you gave me back my wings."

Aurora looks away. "He cared little enough when he got me back," she says, and Maleficent can see that this wound is still fresh. She realises that she is still clasping the child's hands and lets go, feeling suddenly awkward. She rarely touches anyone, these days. Only Aurora, and Diaval: her beastie and her crow.

"Well, he is dead and gone, and I shall not weep for him," Aurora says, incongruously fierce. "I have learned enough about King Stephan these past three days to feel glad I never knew him. I think that Aunt Knotgrass was a little…idealistic, in her stories of him."

Maleficent surprises herself with a choke of laughter at that. "Pixies," she says, with a shrug. "They've a streak of hopeless romanticism, and the attention span of a two-week old spaniel. Probably not the most reliable source of information about anything, really."

"Anyway, what I meant to say was that whenever two kingdoms are united by a marriage of a husband and wife, the husband tends to end up with all the power. But in our case - well, there is no husband in this marriage, so I thought perhaps we could rule together, as equals? Or - well, not really equals, because of course I still know more about churning butter than governing people, but - together? Whilst I learn?"

Maleficent sits back, her wings flaring wildly behind her as she takes this in.

"Marriage?" she says.

Aurora nods. "Marriage."

"But we - but - marriage is a human rite," Maleficent says, when her tongue can form words. She can feel a flush rising on her cheeks, and she knows that Diaval's beady black eyes are taking in every sign of her discomfort and relishing them all. "Fairies do not marry, Aurora."

"Really? You see how badly I need your guidance," Aurora says, quite undeterred. "Knotgrass doesn't explain the important things. Well, if fairies do not marry, then you are the one I got not-married to three days ago, before an assembly of Moors folk and a handful of nervous humans, when we united our kingdoms." Her eyes are dancing with mischief, and something more than that, and Maleficent stumbles to her feet, suddenly ungainly, wings flailing and heart ricocheting rabbit-fast in her chest - but Aurora bounces up and clasps her wrist before she can launch herself into the sky. It's a delicate hold, flimsy as the daisy chain tumbling to the grass, but it is enough to keep Maleficent hovering a scant few feet off the ground while Aurora swallows and then steps closer, as cautious and gentle as she had ever been around any skittish forest creature. As though she imagines that Maleficent, the mighty monster priests and parents use to terrorise their erring flocks, the fearless Defender of the Moors, the elf maid who defeated not one but two iron-clad kings and all their armies, is frightened of a fragile human girl. 

The whole world seems to hold its breath.

"You are the one who broke the curse with true love's kiss," Aurora says. "You. Not Phillip."

"It was my curse."

"And you broke it." Aurora tugs at her wrist very gently, and Maleficent lets herself drop a little closer to the ground as the reassuring babble washes over her. "Besides - it was really a blessing more than a curse, you know. You gave me a childhood of laughter and scuffed knees and blue butterflies in a beautiful cottage, instead of starched gowns and cold jewels and grey walls. You saved me." 

Maleficent knows that she should protest. It isn't as simple as that. She stole Aurora away from that young blonde queen trembling at Stephan's side. She pushed Stephan over the brink into madness. It was a curse, and every inch a curse. But with Aurora's eyes on her now, and Aurora's fingers wrapped around her wrist, Maleficent cannot feel truly sorry.

Still - "I cursed you," she says, clinging to that.

"You saved me." They are very close now. "You broke the curse and in return you won the princess and her kingdom. I belong to you now."

"You belong to yourself," Maleficent snaps, pulling away again. She wants no part of the greedy human world, and its rules of ownership - but Aurora's hand tightens on her wrist, urgent and needy, and after a moment's uncertainty Maleficent allows herself to be tethered.

"I do." Aurora's voice is firm, reassuring. Amused. "But I'm yours too. I've loved you my whole life, and you saved me. True love. That means you're stuck with me now."

"I could fly away," Maleficent says, scowling mutinously, but she is allowing herself to be tugged down to earth little by little until her bare toes brush the dew-dappled grass once more and she lets herself sink back to the ground - for a moment, at least.

"You could fly away," Aurora agrees, a dimple quivering at the corner of her mouth. "You are braver, stronger, more beautiful, more powerful and far more free than I can ever hope to be, and your wings are magnificent. If you want to turn me into a toad and fly away and never see me again, of course you can do that. But if you do, I shall still be a toad who loves you, and misses you with all her heart."

There is really no accounting for how that ridiculous declaration makes Maleficent's own heart ache in her chest.

"Beastie," she begins, her voice rough and uncertain, but then Aurora is stepping right up into her space, cool hands sliding up her arms to ghost over her throat and frame her face, tugging her down into a kiss. And, after all, Maleficent has never been able to deny Aurora anything her heart desires; she lets herself be pulled down, suddenly pliable as willow in the girl's hands, and a moment later she feels the petal-soft brush of Aurora's mouth against her own, and the gentle crush of the girl's breasts pushing against her chest. Maleficent closes one hand around the sweet curve of Aurora's waist and lets the other slide up under the silken tangle of hair to cup the nape of her neck gently as Aurora presses urgent butterfly kisses onto her lips. It is sweet and silly and playful, and nothing at all like her previous experience of human kisses, and Maleficent feels the last layer of ice around her heart crack and melt under this clumsy-tender onslaught as sudden laughter bubbles up in her chest - not from amusement, but from sheer delight. She drops a kiss on the tip of Aurora's nose and squeezes her close.

Their eyes meet, and Aurora begins to giggle too. "Then again," she says, "you could always just take me with you, when you fly away, and forget the whole toad business entirely."

"You'd make a terrible toad," Maleficent says, feeling giddy and girlish for the first time in more than sixteen years. "And your mouth would taste of dragonflies."

"Well that would never do," agrees Aurora, her breath hitching irresistibly. 

Later they will lie in the grass exploring the territory of one another's bodies whilst Diaval tactfully searches for supper a few miles away; later still Aurora will lie with her head pillowed in Maleficent's lap whilst they discuss the logistics of uniting Fairy with the human kingdom next door, and Maleficent weaves daisies through the butter-pale tumble of Aurora's hair, and Diaval watches smugly from the uppermost branches of the tree. For now, however, we shall leave them to their kisses, their laughter turning into something more frantic, as Aurora sucks on Maleficent's bottom lip and licks at the seam of her mouth, and Maleficent parts her lips in a smile as fond as it is joyous, and allows Aurora in.


End file.
